#anyways yeah I use this site pretty much exclusively on desktop

[comicteaparty]

March 18th-March 24th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from March 18th, 2020 to March 24th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What device do you most often read webcomics on and why?  Has this affected whether you read a comic or not?

carcarchu

Typically computer but I will use an emulator to download a specific app if i need to. It's a real pain but if i want to read a certain series enough i will download the dedicated app it's on

Capitania do Azar

Oh I'm all for reading in the computer. Bigger view, more details, no need to zoom on things or have weirdly placed panels.. nice

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I read a lot of vertical comics yet I read almost exclusively on desktop...

eli [a winged tale]

On mobile! I do think desktop work better for traditional layout comics though —- but in that case I usually just buy the actual physical copy (best experience imo)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Computer or mobile. But I particularly love reading things on my iPad. Closest proportions/feel to an actual book, I guess

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

same on Computer or mobile, but I read more comic sites on desktop and webtoons on mobile

Feather J. Fern

I read mostly on mobile due to reading on transit or on the go. Computer is only if the website is large spreads or large pages only

Ash🦀

I read on mobile because I’m on my phone a lot at work (I finish my work much faster than everyone else so /shrug until they notice my efficiency, might as well relax)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I read on my phone most of the time. I am often reading on the go, and I don't like reading comics in my office, because that's the room where I work.

Kabocha

I'm a mix of mobile and desktop. If it's a new-to-me comic and I find it through a platform that I'm browsing on my phone, the website needs to be mobile friendly for me, or available through ArchiveBinge... Otherwise, I'll forget it ^^:;; Unless something about the story REALLY catches me. Desktop though? Eh, as long as the website isn't super slow, it's fine. Basically for me, the website needs to be usable on whichever platform I'm checking it out on. If it's being tweeted rather than rec'd by a friend, I would really hope it's a site that has been tested for mobile friendliness at least.

(also, if the website is mobile friendly but the comic's page-by-page style, setting the max scale is SO helpful! that way I can zoom in on small panels or whatnot if I'm interested. https://css-tricks.com/snippets/html/responsive-meta-tag/)

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I prefer desktop because I can more easily bookmark comics

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Desktop -- I have ComicRocket bookmarked on my phone, but the only comics I open there are the handful that I remember are readable on mobile.

If I get the print version I usually read it, although some book designs are more comfortable reads than others...

RebelVampire

For me it really depends on what I'm reading the comic for. If it's just for personal pleasure reading, then I tend to do a mix with a heavier emphasis on desktop since I'll read it while taking mini-breaks from what I'm working on. Sometimes I'll read a bit on mobile, but usually the majority I consume on my desktop. However, for CTP comics, unless they're super long, I actually read those almost exclusively on mobile. For me personally just as the host, I don't consider that reading free-time persay (more like unpaid work time). So it's just more work after work. And after work I just want to be mush on my bed. So I combine the best of both worlds and just be mush on my bed while being productive and getting something done. Insofar this hasnt really affected comics I've read. Most of the personal ones I choose read okay on both platforms, and the few that I would've not read cause of mobile issues were much older CTP comics so I read them anyway and just dealt with having to do it on desktop.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I have definitely given up on a few comics because they were basically unreadable on mobile, but usually those comics that were unreadable on mobile were also pretty hard to read on desktop too (i.e. bad fonts, lack of spacing between words/letters, small type, handwritten text, etc.) I also read mostly webtoons/scrolling-format comics, so I usually don't have a problem, but I also read a decent amount of page-by-page comics that are also easy to read on mobile, so some creators just know what they're doing

RebelVampire

Yeah I have to agree there. That my personal experience is that comics that are bad to read on mobile were generally still bad for desktop.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Agree too. Font needs to be clean and the spacing needs to be good, and I'm fine.

Additionally, I both strongly prefer page-by-page comics and I prefer to read on the phone, so I want to be easily able to pinch zoom to dvelve into the details. Some web-pages break that by trying fancy navigation thingies, and that's usually enough for me to look somewhere else for entertainment.

And, of course, infamous mention to that one, now defunct webcomic, that gave you a "don't steal, don't copy" java script pop-up if you happened to click or tap on an image, with the results you couldn't scroll on mobile at all. That was a... less than ideal webdesign choice.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

I am on my computer mostly, but I am so baad at reading, I am dealing with adultling haha

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I don't like reading things on my phone, but that's because my eyes aren't what they used to be. I prefer desktop/laptop optimized, page-by-page comics. Though the vertical scroll isn't a deal breaker, it's not something I'm a fan of UNLESS it's used in such a manner that it adds to the story. That is rare though, at least in the webcomics I've come across. Tiny fonts or hard-ro-read fancy fonts are an instant turn-off.

sagaholmgaard

I also prefer being on my computer, and reading traditional page styles over vertical scroll comics. If a comic is designed for vertical scroll it can be good!! But I'm really not a fan of 'breaking up' a traditional page for a scrolling format as it kinda ruins the composition that the creator worked so hard on :( and idk I've never been good at using comics apps on my phone, I just dont get into the habit of opening them and checking for updates. I'm much better at checking for updates on a webpage on my laptop.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Last year for my birthday I got a Samsung Tab! It's good for drawing, but I'm still getting used to that part... but turns out it's also perfect for reading webcomics!! The screen has the perfect size to read pages, which I can do on the go as long as I'm able to connect to WiFi. I also have the Feedly app, which tracks RSS feeds for my fav comics and lets me know where I left off!

DanitheCarutor

Eeeh I'll read a comic on mobile when I'm on the toilet in the morning or riding in the car, but I prefer desktop. It's easier to read and see the details of a page without zooming in, also I'm just not much of a phone person. There have been a couple comics I couldn't read on my phone either due to the layout or font size, causing me to wait till I got to my computer, but this is a rare case. Most of the time I don't have much of an issue. Although vertical scroll comics with a ton of empty space in between panels are an absolute pain in the ass to read on the desktop, so much scrolling! Aurg!

[goblinsdirect]

Oh yeah if y’all miss me being cute and funny and never shutting up I talk a lot more on my twitter @DragonBallMinus since it’s a lot easier to post on an app that actually works lmao

[secrethauntedcollect]

I got all of the above for $2.69 (nice)

Oh What’s This? It’s Soren’s No-Bullshit Guide To Couponing

When I say “no bullshit” I am aiming for a very high level of no bullshit. Cause you know when you see blogs about this shit, it’s all hyped up and overwhelming and click-baity like “PAY NINE CENTS FOR GROCERIES FOR A WEEK” except those groceries are just, like, some toilet paper and like 100 tubes of kids toothpaste or something? This guide is not going to do that to you.

I’m going to talk about: how couponing works, what I do and use, what you need for it, what the “catches” are, and what may or may not be applicable to you as well. You can save on a lot of stuff, but I haven’t found my grocery bills cut in half or anything. This is a long guide because there’s a lot to cover. Get yourself some tea/water/coffee/hot chocolate (or all of those), get cozy, and settle in for the read.

So, how does this stuff work?

It’s not like it was back in the 90s or any date before smartphones became widely used. Smartphones have changed the whole game. You no longer work exclusively with newspaper coupons and nor do you have to cross examine sales ads every week for like 10 hours a day to figure out where to get beans for free. 

A huge change is rebate apps like Ibotta and Checkout51. You add your favorite stores, see what items offer rebates, and then add them to your list. Once you’ve bought stuff, you upload photos of your receipt (or scan the QR code) and it gives you cashback on whatever you bought. I use Ibotta, because I have limited phone storage and try not to cram too many apps on my phone. If I had more room I’d probably download Checkout51 as well.

Here’s a link for Ibotta https://ibotta.com/r/gqdfows (if you sign up with that link I get $5 and we also get to be “teammates” on the app, which means we are friends. Also, Ibotta gives you $10 for signing up and using it within the first 30 days)

In-store sales and manufacturer’s coupons (or “MFG coupons”, usually found in newspapers but about 40% of the time you can get them online as well) still factor in, of course. The real money saving is when you can stack up all three, which happens pretty often. The website and app Krazy Coupon Lady tells you exactly where these stack ups are. You don’t have to do shit except scroll through what they’ve found for you, print some coupons, add rebates to your rebate app, and then go get it. You can use this on your desktop if you don’t have phone space, or you can download the app. It’s up to you. The app is handy for remembering when you’re out and about what was for sale where, but then you could also just write a list to remind yourself.

BUT—and here’s the biggest catch of all with couponing—do you need all the couponing deals and steals? Do you even like what’s on sale? Do you need to buy 10 kids toothbrushes even if you can get all of them for 60¢? 

This is the most frustrating part of couponing, I’ve found. There are a lot of deals on stuff I don’t like or don’t use at all. Ever. I don’t need to save on toddler clothes, and I make my own laundry soap (it’s actually incredibly cheap to do it this way) so I don’t need the Amazing Deals On Tide Pods At Target This Week Only. My savings could be “more” if I did need these things, but I don’t. Because it’s mostly moms that do this, it’s pretty mom-geared. But it can work for other people, smaller households and single people like myself too.

What I use:

A computer & printer

A smartphone (with one rebate app, one couponing app, Target app, for Cartwheel savings)

A car

What I’m mainly missing is: the other rebate app, a newspaper subscription

I save because I can print coupons from home, I’m really mobile, so I can go to more than one store (each type of yoghurt above is from a different store) and I have a smartphone with a rebate app on it. 

If you don’t have a car you can still get some good deals through rebates, coupons & sales in the stores near you. Most grocery stores are listed on Ibotta and offer refunds. So whatever’s near you and you tend to shop at a lot, you can probably find some rebates. You can stick to looking at the stores near you and still do a pretty good job saving. You don’t need to coupon EVERY DAY. Most sales are about a week long, so even if you grocery shop once a week, this can work for you. (If you live out in the sticks like I used to and only grocery shop once a month, that’s going to be more difficult)

If you don’t have a printer I’m not going to tell you something absurd like “ask your neighbor to print coupons for you.” Cause, like, no. That’s fucking unreal. No one would ever do that. (I would totally try to print coupons at work or school though.) But if you can’t get printable MFG coupons, you can still combine rebates with in-store sales and save. You’ll save about two-thirds or half of what everyone else is saving.

If you don’t have a smartphone… it’s going to be tough, honestly. But you can still check out the Krazy Coupon Lady site for where the deals are and use printable MFG coupons stacked up with in-store sales.

If you don’t have a newspaper subscription you can do what I do, which is check the recycling bins near you for coupons. I found some once. I’m usually in there anyway, throwing out my own recyclables, or, yes, scrounging around for stuff. Mainly clean boxes I can use for shipping stuff. I haven’t found coupons consistently though. A lot of coupon sites will tell you to just ask your neighbors… lmao nah. No thanks. 

Like a lot of things in life, the more you already have, the more you can save. Kinda sucks, but that’s how it goes. No bullshit!!!

What’s the Deal, the Lowdown… the “Catch”

MFG coupons: there is no catch here. You just print them and use them. Most people think you can only print one, but you can actually print two per device each time. Print one, click the back button on your browser. Make sure the barcode numbers are different. Print again. You can get two from your computer, and then two from your smartphone if you can hook up your phone to your printer (I haven’t figured that out yet, I’m lazy.) So you can, ideally, get 4 coupons to use on multiple items. OH YEAH and you can get a lot of MFG coupons on coupons.com. Sometimes you have to go directly to Kleenex.com and sign up for their mailing list before you can get your coupons. SOMETIMES you can get a bigger coupon if you share on social media. (This is what a locked alt twitter is great for.)

Ibotta: it mainly collects consumer data/feedback from you and sometimes you have to watch a 10-15 second ad in the app to add a rebate to your list. Half the rebates I add don’t ask for either. Sometimes you get one that’s like “Wow! What new ice cream flavor of ours are you most excited for” and you have to click on a flavor. It’s whatever. Also, you can only withdraw your money once you have over $20. Is that hard? Not really, I’ve found. Your first one is especially easy since they give you $10 for using a rebate within the first 30 days of downloading it. I’ve been using it since late June 2017 and have saved up $59 already (so I’m really close to my third cash out of $20.) Update for March 2019: I’m hovering right under $500 in savings now.

It sends your funds to either Paypal or Venmo, not your bank account, so you need one of those.

I’m not sure about Checkout51, but I assume it’s basically the same.

Krazy Coupon Lady app/website: no catch here, but you might have some carelord online @ you that you’re being problematic because it has the word “crazy”, albeit spelt wrong, in it. They have some good guides over there, I recommend downloading their guide to couponing at Target, it gives you a pretty good taste of how this shit goes. 

Overall, since some savings come from rebates, it doesn’t always cost that much less up front. If you’re using just Ibotta for a discount on something, you still pay the full price, and you won’t see your refund until your blessed $20 limit is reached. However, I like ibotta because you don’t have to do shit at the cash register, and you can go home and take pics of your receipt after you’ve bought everything. It’s pretty easy. Sales and coupons give you the up-front-at-the-register discounts so you out-of-pocket pay less. That feels a bit more rewarding, especially if you know you have an ibotta rebate to add later. However, you have to remember to bring your coupons, and make sure they’re still valid. Also they can be glitchy! Half the time I have to have someone come over (I pretty exclusively use self-checkouts) and validate or collect the coupon because the system is angry.

The products themselves: what can you get on sale? Is buying name brand cheaper than buying store brand?

Real deal: they talk a lot of shit about really cheap toilet paper, but I have yet to find any name brand toilet paper with 1000000 coupons/rebates/sales that’s cheaper than a store brand. Not worth it, but you can keep looking and hoping if you want.

Besides that, it’s kinda up in the air. Sometimes, depending on the deals around, you CAN get name brand for much cheaper than the store brand and have it be worth all that effort. Sometimes it’s ten cents difference and like, fuck that. I don’t need name brand plastic bags that bad. 

THERE ARE A LOT OF DEALS ON LAUNDRY DETERGENT. So many. So fucking unbelievably many. Half of them seem to be “I got some Tide at rite aid for a dollar.” If you do a lot of laundry, this is great for you. 

Most of the deals are for like… “normal American food” stuff, I guess. A lot of name brand breakfast cereal, granola bars, canned soup, Kleenex, yoghurt, ice cream, sometimes cheeses. P&G brands. Your dairy products are generally on sale (except butter, weirdly—though they do push the margarine.) There are not a lot of offers for produce, which is like… fine really, cause it’s already pretty cheap. 

On Ibotta, however, there are “any item” rebates for some produce and other “staple” items. For a while they were giving you 25¢ off any bananas, 50¢ off any milk or bread, that sort of thing. Now they’re for oranges and eggs I think. They also tend to have 25-50¢ off any item rebates too which you can snatch up easy. I like those. I was getting 50¢ off single donuts at Fred Meyers for a while, making them 19¢.

What about special diet stuff? Organic stuff? 

There’s honestly not a whole lot of this when it comes to coupons + sales + rebates stack ups featured in the KCL app. Which is weird to me, you’d think someone on the site would be paying more attention to Whole Foods sales and matching them up with rebates, but whatever. So you’re not going to get gluten free bread for 50¢ a loaf. There are, however, coupons here and there. Ibotta has a rebate at Whole Foods for $1.50 off Udi’s GF bread right now, there’s a $5 rebate on organic protein powder, some kombucha, Stonyfield Grassfed yoghurt… it’s there, though it’s not like Cheap As Free, so it doesn’t get advertised as much. You can still save here, but not as much as if your diet is mostly General Mills breakfast cereal and Tide laundry soap.

What’s good, though, is if you save enough in other areas of Household and Grocery, it makes it a little easier to get some of the nicer stuff that never really goes drastically on sale.

So what about that yoghurt up there? How’d you do that?

Alright.

The Chobani Smooth yoghurts, both of them, were free. There’s a rebate on Ibotta right now (as of Sept 8 2017) for $3.00 off two of them. They’re currently priced at $1.50 at Walmart, so those suckers were cheap as free. The KCL app told me about this one. I didn’t need to print coupons or do anything but go buy them and scan the QR code to redeem the rebate.

The Oui yoghurt was also free. This was from softcoin.com, which loaded the coupon onto my Fred Meyer’s card (always get the store club cards, they’re free), so when I scanned it at the register, it became $0.00. There was a limit of one. The KCL app told me about this one too.

The Noosa yoghurt was from Target and I paid 73¢ for it. Or something. Idk about my math on that one. The KCL app listed it at a lesser price than it eneded up being in my store, so I didn’t get it for 48¢. The savings came from three places: 1) 15% off Noosa yoghurt from the Cartwheel part of the Target app; 2) A MFG coupon from noosayoghurt.com; and 3) an ibotta rebate for noosa yoghurt. With the cartwheel app, you just add the offers you want to your list, and then scan your barcode at the register for the discounts to apply. Sometimes there are MFG coupons in there for you! Paperless! Nice!

The Suja organics drink was from Winco, originally $2.48 but ultimately ended up being 73¢. If you can, always try to use coupons and rebates at your cheapest grocery store. I used an ibotta rebate for 74¢ off, and found a $1/off 1 MFG coupon on the bottle itself at the store. Which isn’t the first time that’s happened. 

The Zico was 75¢ off with an Ibotta rebate, making it $1.23 (not bad for coconut water). 

With the last two, however, there’s more: there’s currently a bonus on Ibotta that if you buy a Suja drink, Zico coconut water, and an Odwalla smoothie, which all have their own single 75¢ off rebates, you get an extra 75¢ off, which means they each become 25¢ less on top of that. All this shit I drink already (I’m big into bevs) so this is a good save for me.  There are bonuses like this a lot, though I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to all of them because they aren’t always relevant.

Some of my good past buys have been: 4 bags of pasta for 38 cents a piece (safeway sale plus MFG coupons). I got linguini and fettucini noodles because the long noodles you can’t get in bulk at winco (bulk noodles are always cheaper)

And I got some puffs cube box tissues (ie the ones that fit in my silly tissue covers) for 75 cents a piece instead of like two something. That was a safeway sale + MFG coupon and an ibotta rebate, if I remember right.

Anything else?

The most rebates on Ibotta are at Walmart. They by far have the most rebates.

Also, not every rebate is for every store. I tried to use something at Winco once only to find out it’s only valid at Target. You can see where it’s redeemable when you scroll down. Most of the time this isn’t a problem, though.

Ibotta has a lot of rebates on alcohol. If you have or have had a drinking problem, you can hide all of these from you in your settings (I think it should be something you can turn off when you sign up, but whatever)

Kohl’s weirdly has amazing clearance deals on household stuff. who knew? the KCL app will tell you about them.  

So, basic getting started:

download Ibotta

go over to KCL and check out their shit about what’s on sale where and when and how. you don’t have to download their app if you don’t want to. it might be overwhelming but... just look for a bit. think about it. (i usually browse through the app while i’m watching tv or just before bed to see if there’s anything i need to pick up the next day)

go over to coupons.com to see what’s out there

then, when you’re ready, fuckin coupon 

That’s probably it for now. If you have questions, feel free to ask me.

And again, if you want to try out ibotta and give me $5, my referral code is GQDFOWS wooo okay